I became a born again believer on January 31st, 1971. On the thirtieth, I was an atheist, but God had a plan for my life. He orchestrated events in such a way that I knew He was real, and that I needed Him. Upon getting up from kneeling in my living room, I knew three things: my sins were forgiven; the Bible was God's true revelation to man; and that I was to spend the rest of my life serving Him. Of course, I thought that meant I was to become a preacher. I had no idea just how many ways there are to serve Him. I went to Bible College, and then later to Seminary, but the journey had already taken twenty years. I graduated and soon was called by a little country church to be their pastor. God confirmed the call, and I served there for two years. That was long enough to let me know that I was not a pastor. He then led me to a Christian School where I taught and even served as Principal for a time. The school closed, I spent the next five years working in a public school and suffering from severe depression. My health gave out and I had to quit work altogether. Now, I was not only depressed because I was not teaching at the Christian School, my depression steadily deepened until I was rushed to the hospital with blood clots in both lungs. The doctors were not sure I would make it.
The first night I was there, a pastor my daughter knew came to pray for me. I told him that I only wanted God to spare my life if He was going to use me in ministry. To me, living meant serving. He prayed accordingly, and for about six months, I recovered somewhat, but I was miserable because I had no leading from the Lord to a place of service. Then, one day while I was moaning to my pastor about my life being a waste, he suggested I write a blog. I didn't know then, and I still don't know what a blog is, but he went on his computer and started one for me. Since November of 2009, I have written a post almost every day. This post will be my one hundredth. I usually don't know what I will write about until I sit down at my computer and pray for His direction. Today was no different. So I prayed, and here it is.
Pastor Tibbs' message today was about our church's vision for ministry. He said two things that really got my attention. For one, he explained that Charlestown Independent Church's vision was to be a lighthouse to the community. He went into great detail about lighthouses, but I couldn't keep my mind from coming back to my blog. Not only did I select the name of it without thinking of our church, I also picked a background for my site from a tiny picture among dozens. It was less crowded, so I picked it. When I saw it as a full page, I rejoiced because the picture is of a lighthouse! God is good!
The second thing was from Acts 2:17 (also Joel 2:28) which says when the Spirit comes, young men will see visions, and old men will dream dreams. My pastor is young and has a vision for our church to reach the lost; I am old and I dream of a day when my blog will be read in every country. So far, it is being read in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Malaysia, and many states in the U.S. Needless to say, my depression is gone and I am thrilled to be serving the Lord by spreading His Word. I don't know how long I will last, but as long as I am able, and the Spirit guides me, I will write 'til Jesus comes! If you haven't read other posts, be sure to read the March 1st post. It is the best thing I have, or ever will write. God bless you; pray for me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment